God and matchmaking

Do you think God plays matchmaker? That He has "that special person" He created "just for you"? I guess if you are married, the point is kind of moot. But it's a big question for single folks. Is there one person walking around this earth that God intends for them to marry, and they just haven't bumped into them yet? And if they marry "the wrong person", it won't work out?

It's a common notion, and I was asked a little while back what I thought about it. Without serious thought, I said that I didn't believe it was true.

With just a little serious thought, I still think it is true.

Hosea's story seems to support this. If you remember from Sunday, God told him to go and marry an "adulterous" woman (some translations say "prostitute"). But that is where the directions end. God doesn't tell him WHO to marry, just WHAT to marry (what as in the type of person). While Hosea 1 doesn't provide a lot of details, the context seems to argue against God making a direct match between Hosea and his adulterous wife, Gomer. She just happened to be who Hosea choose.

I looked at a number of places where marriage, or married people, are mentioned and found nothing to support the notion that one man was the God-ordained "one" for a particular woman.

The exception is Issac and Rebekah in Genesis 24:14. Yes, Isaac's servant does indeed pray, "let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac", but I'm not entirely comfortable laying a theology of relationships on that one verse. (well there's also Adam and Eve, but when you are the only man and there is only one woman....).

The bible is clear that love is a decision, a conscious choice a person makes. Therefore, I believe that any man can marry any woman and it can work*, and God will help it work...if they base their love not on fireworks, but commitment. I've seen marriages where it was the case of two similar people madly in love, and I've seen marriages that epitomize the slogan "opposites attract". If both husband and wife agree on the centrality of Jesus and the foundation of love being a decision, than their marriage can be considered "God's will".


This opens the door to some much deeper issues about freedom and the perfect will of God. I've got no desire to go there right now.

grace & blessings...
pjim


*one must not overlook the mandate against being unequally yolked. As with Hosea, God gives us the what but not the who.